California Passes Gay Marriage Ban, Legal Challenges to Come

 

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The initiative said that for the health of the mother, a physician would have needed to make the determination that an abortion is medically necessary because of "serious risk of a substantial and irreversible impairment of the functioning of a major bodily organ or system" of the woman.

In cases of rape or incest, the mother would have needed to identify the violator and take a DNA test to prove it is his child.

Abortion was also on the ballot in California and Colorado. In Colorado, voters rejected Amendment 48, which sought to define the term "person" to include a human egg at the moment of fertilization.

Votes were still being counted early today on California's Proposition 4, which would require parental notification for abortions for minors.

Affirmative Action

Affirmative action faced challenges in Colorado and Nebraska. Voters in those states were asked whether their governments should eliminate policies that give hiring preferences based on race or gender; Nebraska passed the measure. Votes were still being counted in Colorado.

The measures in both states would permit exceptions for existing court orders, certain federal programs and other legally binding agreements.

Other Ballot Initiatives

Other measures appearing on ballots this Election Day ranged from medical marijuana use to stem cell research. Here are some of the other issues voters decided:

Michigan overwhelmingly passed Proposal 2, which loosens restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, provided the embryos were created for fertility treatment purposes, are not usable for implantation or exceed the number needed for clinical purposes, would be disposed of, unless used as part of the research, and were donated by the person who sought the fertility treatment.

The measure will not provide funding for the research.

Michigan voters also passed a medical marijuana measure, according to ABC News projections. The measure allows for patients with debilitating medical conditions, such as cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis, to use the drug and for registered individuals to grow the marijuana in secured facilities. The measure also requires the state's health department to establish a registry of qualified patients and growers.

Washington's Initiative 100, which voters passed, will allow terminally ill adults to obtain lethal prescriptions. Three other states in recent years -- Maine, Michigan and California -- have rejected similar measures.